July 30, 2012  Pavlof Harbor in Freshwater Bay to Tenakee Springs in Tenakee Inlet

     We got up early this morning, 7am, so we could make an 8am start. I was eager to get into the Tenakee Springs’ hot sulphur springs and bathe and they divide into women’s hours and men’s hours (no clothing allowed). The women’s hours during the day are until 2pm and I didn’t want to have to wait until late evening to go.
     So, after breakfast, before I was even on deck, Pete had the engine started. I rushed up the ladder and Kelsey and I took turns pulling in the anchor. The bear on the beach was back, grazing grass. Soon, we were underway and before we had left Freshwater Bay, Pete spotted three more bears running along the beach (bears 38,39,40)
     I haven’t really described the bears here yet. Alaskans don’t call them grizzlies-they call them Brown bears. Technically they are a grizzly but much larger then the inland grizzlies--I’m guessing because their food sources are much better and abundant.
     Anyway, we motored to Tenakee Springs today. Still not much wind though it rained intermittently  and the wind from the South continues to bring warmer air. Kelsey mostly stayed down below again today--cleaning house I think.
     Sailors following my blog have been getting less sailing stuff this last while--since leaving the West coast of Chichagof (I am so glad we took the wild coast slowly and savored it) I haven’t had as much to report sailing wise--”Where are we  Kelsey? Rock on your right Talia” type dialogues are done. Now we’re in wide open spaces--not that there aren’t rocks here too but not like the narrower passages on West coast. Though there was a nasty underwater big one as you enter Tenakee Inlet--apparent by the kelp along the surface.
      Once we leave Tenakee Springs, Pete plans to have Kelsey and I take over everything, route planning, discussing tides, currents etc. I only have a week left to learn from him, so he is trying to send me off prepared for sailing in B.C. We’ll be transiting Peril Strait to get back to Sitka. Pete says if I can get us through Serguis Narrows, I can handle any of B.C.’s tidal rapids.
     I’ve been wanting to relate a funny story Pete told me a while back but haven’t fit into my blog yet--geez, each day’s blog gets longer! So here goes:
    Pete has a friend who once bought a spinnaker sail sight unseen. A pure black sail or so he thought. Hooked it up and raised it for the first time. Turned out the black sail had  pink lips on it, but as he had hooked up the clew and tack backwards, the lips ran vertical instead of horizontal and as he looked up into the billowing large spinnaker sail, he was horrified to see he had a sail that looked it had a  huge giant vagina on it. (omg, I can hardly type this because I’m laughing so hard at the image in my mind). His friend promptly dropped the sail and later returned it to the ladies he bought it from.  I think he should have sold it to the racing boat I’ve seen in Puget Sound named Penetration.(now, that’s a boat no self-respecting female should board) Every time Pete and Kelsey hear me laughing  out loud in my berth at night, they know I’m thinking of that story.
     Okay, back to today.  We motored South out of Freshwater Bay and into the next inlet South, which is Tenakee Inlet. Pete groaned looking at his gps AIS signal, “Surf Turd is there”. I looked at him questioningly. “A huge super yacht, Surf Bird, that keeps beating me to anchorages and taking up a lot of room--Tenakee Springs has limited transient spaces, I hope we can get in” There are no good anchorages around Tenakee Springs, so if we couldn’t moor at the dock, this could be a problem for us.
      When we arrived in Tenakee Inlet, Surf Bird was still there and I’m not talking the usual expensive yacht, which is what I expected--this really was a mega mega yacht. At least a 120 feet long and five levels high if you include the fly deck.   The damn boat took up one whole side of the transient dock--50% of the available dock space in this small marina. Luckily, there was room on the other side of the dock and Surf Turd left within an hour to Tracy Arm and now we have a lovely view looking toward the town of the colorful houses lining the beach.
     Kelsey fed me a quick lunch and I walked along the dirt road into town. No cars here, 4 wheelers, bicycles and walking power only. Cute houses--much more upscale though than quaint, but poor Pelican. Pete tells me a lot of the houses are lived in during the summer only, by people from Juneau and Sitka.
     I entered the hot springs building and undressed, leaving my clothing in the dressing room and entered the next door, which had an old iron as a handle, and walked down the steps into the lower room. There was one woman there, “Watch the steps, they’re slippery”, she told me. She left a few minutes later.  My first reaction was to the smell, sulphur (think rotten eggs). The small concrete room, which I had read was dark, is now bright, because of a newly installed skylight. The springs are encased in a roughly 5 foot by 10 foot cement opening. There is a narrow shelf under the water to sit on and one can see the rock cleft that the water bubbles through (a leaflet said the springs are 108 degrees and flow at a rate of seven gallons a minute). Soap and bathing are prohibited inside the pool and jugs line the side. One scoops water out of the pool and soaps and rinses off to the side before one enters the pool. The whole floor is slanted and the water you pour and the water flowing out of the springs runs down and through a hole in the wall. 
    I bathed first (sure feels good to be clean) but I never did fully enter the pool although I did stand in it briefly to my knees to at least be able to say I did. I didn’t like the strong smell, the rocky shelf that didn’t look comfortable to sit on and the  rock cleft was rather deep and I was spooked by it. Sure feels good to have clean hair again though.
      Which brings me to expand on the subject of cleanliness. I must admit my personal hygiene habits have steadily declined over the course of this month of being on the boat. Not that I couldn’t bath in the cockpit as needed, but it has gotten rather more complicated since leaving the isolated West coast with other boats around in our anchorages. It’s not that though entirely, perhaps it’s a bit of laziness. Should I brush my teeth today? Nah, why bother. Should I put on clean  underwear today? Nah, I do have to conserve after all. (Right now I am picturing my husband reading this, aghast, “T.M.I., Talia, T.M.I”)
      So, anyway, after leaving the hot springs, I walked next door to the mercantile store which sells a limited supply of groceries (it opened in 1899). Old grocery and drug store artifacts line the upper shelves. I was instantly drawn to the frozen ice cream case--something frozen!  After buying ice cream and a small cloth patch with the town name on it, I chatted for a while with the store clerk. She asked me if I was from the big white boat, which I responded with a, “ewhhhh, No!” which than led to a bunch of trash talk about  it before leading into other subjects like, when is the library open (wifi), closed today but open tomorrow 1-5.
     From there, I walked a few doors down to another old building, which is a little bakery and cafe named The Party Time bakery. A local artist had paintings on the wall, and I did a double take at one with a small waterfall--I recognized it immediately and the caption confirmed it. It was of the sweet little waterfall in Pavlof Harbor where we anchored last night. I bought a few sweets for the  boat.
     Walked back to the marina, taking a detour from the path, to the beach and examined the brownish sand more carefully. I’m curious what mineral/rock it is and picked up a few small rocks--treasures!
      Back to the dock, climbing back on board--home sweet home--how I love thee Privateer! Down below, I handed Pete a cinnamon roll, who instantly devoured it. “Peeete, you just had sweets with lunch” Kelsey exclaimed. It’s true, he has the strongest appetite for sweets that I have ever seen in a man--he rivals even me, which is saying a lot. Well, sweets for a sweet man.
    Right now, Pete and Kelsey are walking around town and now my laptop computer battery is quickly running down, so will sign off for now.